An Encounter

I met the Devil when I was a child,
The Devil told me, "Let us go and play!"
The day was perfect -- the sunny sea-shore calm and mild,
Over horizon the distant ship's smoke floating away.

He took me to a meadow in the grove,
There were a few stones of rather a strange kind;
Proposed me to get ridden of my clothes
And showed me how to dance and leap and wind.

All frightening joyous things the child was learning
And talked with snakes and a raven from the old water-mill.
Into the space the time was turning,
And watching us, the sun stood still.

From under trees a shape appeared,
Approached me, smiling, stretching out a hand;
I felt great excitation but no fear
And with my feet, the tension of the land.

A lovely creature gracious as a deer
Was facing me all in the pouring light;
Almost of human kin he looked, so beautiful and dear,
With his black hair and white enchanting eyes --

A dark nymph was it, to me the Devil told,
My twin from such a distant yet still a nearby realm
Of nenupharic splendor and of great marvel;
His skin by touch so silky, soft and cold...

And there in midday fascinating presence
I saw -- no matter how much to Christianity I clung --
How great indeed is Artemis of Ephesus
And great god Pan along with a Thousand Young